In-home 'underground' cooking that whets the appetite, fills the cup and delights the soul.

My Story

My name is Leila, I am a follower of Jesus, wife, mother of two precious little boys, a passionate cook and people lover. Initially while we lived in Sydney I developed 'tablenosh' as a way I could open my home and gather all sorts of people around the table to eat and share life. A 'tablenosh' dinner was sort of like a dinner party open to the public...you had to book in and I could only seat 10 people.
I truly love sharing our table, and filling up our home with friends, family and strangers simply fills up my heart!
I am an experimental cook who is always learning. I don't have any formal training other than a cooking class or two, but enjoy learning right here in my kitchen.
Tablenosh has been a wonderful opportunity to see food bring all kinds of people together around the table. It has also been a great chance for me to grow my culinary skills.
Although at this stage now in Richmond, I am not really doing 'tablenosh' dinners like I did in Sydney we do our best to open our table and home to many and share fellowship around the table. I also continue to explore cooking ideas and concepts, particularly gluten free, local, paleo and toddler friendly :) !

What is Tablenosh?

Tablenosh has grown out of my desire to bring people together around food while growing my culinary skills. It was inspired by the 'underground' restaurant movement that is happening around the world.

My initial concept for 'tablenosh' was a group of people coming together around a table to enjoy an evening of good food and company in a humble and cozy setting. My vision being that 'tablenosh' would not only whet the appetite, but will truly delight the soul as one engages in community around the table.Although this blog initially focused on sharing the stories, menus and fun of 'tablenosh' dinner parties & events it has transitioned into the place where I continue to share my food journey, ideas, recipes, hopes, dreams and passions of food & people. It is certainly my hope the 'tablenosh' dinners will eventually reignite here in RVA - or possible a little underground morning side-porch cafe of some sort...I will keep you posted.

Tablenosh 'underground' Bakery

Occasionally I will cater a party or make a special cake, pie, or other. If this is something you are interested in please feel free to contact me.

Contact Information

Leila Gunning

tablenoshing@hotmail.com

Recent Posts

Monday, July 25, 2011

Even though we just returned from Fiji on Thursday, I could not give up the chance to do a Christmas in July dinner with some good friends...some meaning 24 adults and 8 children/babies!!!! Who knew I could ever cram so many people into our little apartment, but somehow I did it! We thought this dinner would be a good chance to have one last shindig before we farewell our Dover St. apartment and move next week.

The plane touched down on Thursday night, I started prepping on Friday and spent all of Saturday & Sunday cooking, cleaning, decorating and rearranging the furniture so all the guests would fit. We had a table of 12 in the kitchen/dining room and another table in the lounge room and not to mention a few mothers in the hallway juggling their plate's along with the bubs. It was a fabulous evening, I was so delighted to have our little home filled with so many beloved friends and for them all to enjoy a tablenosh dinner.

Once again I was humbled in my cooking...I cooked the Turkey on the barbecue for the first time and thought 'it sure is a lopsided looking bird', well when I went to cut it I realized I had cooked the darn thing upside down!!!! No wonder it looked so funny! So, yes I was humbled again and reminded I am still learning every day and making mistakes along the way.

The party kicked off at 4pm with a few appetizers and some winter warm-ups. Warm Spiced Cider and mulled wine were a good way to warm up the afternoon, along side baked brie with fig jam & walnuts, salmon canapes, smoked ham with honey mustard and a few other things to nibble on before dinner.

It was pretty hilarious trying to get everyone seated along with getting them a plate, cutlery and food! It felt like a family affair indeed. We ended up with a mixture of buffet and some food on the table. It was nice and squishy but I think everyone eventually found a seat and a plate. I shared a seat and my husband who was carving the Turkey (last to be served) ended up eating his dinner out of a bowl!

After dinner we did a 'kris kringle' gift exchange, everyone piled into the lounge room, drew numbers and the fun began. It really got crazy once people starting stealing and swapping, I think the wine glasses were the most wanted, it was all good fun and a nice pause before dessert. I was very pleased with the berry balsamic vinegar I ended up with and fortunately no one tried to steal it off me.

I decided to do four desserts and had hoped to have a beautiful maple cinnamon ice cream to compliment everything, unfortunately it did not quite work as planned and was a bit more like semi-freddo (the taste was still good). There was pumpkin cheesecake with a gingerbread crust and fresh cream, a dutch style apple pie, a chocolate-pecan tart and gingerbread cake w/ caramelized apples and warm caramel sauce.

The pumpkin cheesecake is always a hit and I was surprised at how many people loved the semi-freddo, I think it was the the pure maple syrup and hint of cinnamon, such a good combination.

By the time dessert was over, I was so overwhelmed by the site of my kitchen I thought I might skip offering tea and coffee! Let's just say it is over 24 hours later and I think my kitchen is finally back in order. It was well worth it, what a great night and a great feast.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Every year Pete heads over to Fiji for a month for work and I get to join him for 2 weeks. This year we spent 5 nights in a local village!!! Talk about a different way of life and a different way of COOKING!

Lanianna - my beautiful 'homestay' mother and cooking companion.

I had the delight of spending some time in the kitchen with these beautiful Fijian women laughing and sharing together. Let me explain this is no traditional kitchen, we are talking a small gas burner and a small convection oven (only some people have these), no counter space and no refrigerator (some people have them but not everyone). It was great fun, we sat on a simple mat in the very simple kitchen with no measuring cups or spoons, just eye balling everything! I was taught how to make a Fijian style pumpkin pie (very different to the tradional American pumpkin pie I am uses to) it was a pretty interesting recipe with more of a cake like base and then pumpkin that we boiled and then mashed spread over it and then topped with condensed milk mixed with lime juice.

The next day I taught them how to make peanut butter cookies, a good old classic, I think peanut butter was a bit of a luxury because it can be expensive to buy. The cookies seemed to be a hit, I wrote down the recipe for them.

It was so interesting spending this time with these women, who have probably never even looked at a cook book but they are just passing on recipes verbally and doing what they have been taught from the generation before them. I can't really imagine life with no cookbooks! So when I get back to Australia I am going to send these ladies a little care package for the kitchen with some measuring cups, chocolate chips and a cookbook.